Search

Join us as award-winning storyteller Motoko tells delightful folktales and leads hands-on origami activities. Motoko’s step-by-step instructions make the ancient Japanese art fun and accessible. No registration required. This event is intended for school-aged children and is open to drop-in attendees while space and supplies last. Funding for Vacation Week Programming: Live at the Library has been generously provided by the Cambridge Public Library Foundation.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Molly Jong-Fast—contributing writer at Vanity Fair, political analyst at MSNBC News, and host of the podcast “Fast Politics”—for a discussion of her new book How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir. She will be joined in conversation by Laura Zigman—author of six novels, including the bestsellers Small World, Separation Anxiety, and Animal Husbandry. Registration is required.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Harvey C. Mansfield—William R. Kenan, Jr., Research Professor of Government at Harvard University and recipient of the National Humanities Medal—for a discussion of his new book, The Rise and Fall of Rational Control: The History of Modern Political Philosophy. He will be joined in conversation by Eric Nelson—Robert M. Beren Professor of Government at Harvard University. Registration is required.

Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, the Harvard Library, and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Dr. Anjana Khatwa—award-winning earth scientist, TV presenter, and advocate for diversity in the geosciences and nature—for a discussion of her book The Whispers of Rock: The Stories That Stone Tells About Our World and Our Lives, a 2025 New Scientist Best Book of the Year. Registration is required.

This presentation incorporates 4-5 live birds of prey that all native to New England. The program is designed to explain predation, the birds' place at the top of the food web, their different hunting adaptations and their status in a rapidly changing world. Because many birds of prey are declining in number, this presentation also features one or more of the endangered raptors that Wingmasters cares for, and explains why these species face an uncertain future. Recommended for children ages 6 and up and their caregivers. This program can accommodate 75 people. Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis on the day of the program. The entire party must be present to receive a ticket. This program starts promptly. Unclaimed seats will be offered to someone waiting. We appreciate your patience and understanding. Funding for Summer Reading has been generously provided by the City of Cambridge, Cambridge Public Library Foundation, Friends of the Cambridge Public Library and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

In July, the City Manager’s Office in collaboration with the Cambridge Public Health Department launched the Cambridge Community Corps program, which was developed to help encourage Cambridge residents to adopt and keep practicing safe habits, such as wearing a mask and maintaining good hand hygiene, which will help slow the spread of COVID-19. The Corps Members will be giving positive reinforcement on healthy behaviors and having friendly and helpful interactions with their neighbors.

Neighborhood Conservation Districts were established by city ordinance in 1983. Conservation district designation recognizes a distinctive physical environment that reflects the architectural, cultural, political, economic, or social history of the city. NCDs foster wider public knowledge and appreciation of such neighborhoods. Designation encourages the conservation and maintenance of these areas so that the city may be a more attractive and desirable place in which to live and work.

Participatory Budgeting is a democratic process that empowers community members to decide how to spend part of a public budget. In June and July 2022, community members submitted 1,320 ideas on how to spend $1 million of the City of Cambridge’s FY24 Capital Budget. From August to November, over 70 volunteer PB Delegates worked on five committees to research and evaluate those ideas and develop 20 final proposals for the PB ballot.

Voting has now ended for the eleventh cycle of Participatory Budgeting in Cambridge! From March 6-16, Cambridge residents could vote on projects to improve the City in PB11. Attend the PB11 Vote Results Party on March 20, 2025 at Cambridge City Hall (795 Massachusetts Avenue) from 6:00-7:30 p.m. to hear the announcement of the winning PB11 projects! This event is free for the public, food and drink will be provided.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy this month, the Cambridge STEAM Initiative is also celebrating the life and legacy of Bob Moses, local civil rights activist and founder of The Algebra Project. The STEAM Initiative is co-leading a Math is a Civil Right movement alongside the Cambridge Public Schools Math Department and The Young People’s Project to advance Bob Moses’s belief that math is a civil right